Originally Posted by Our Heliophobic Sun

Wasn't that always the case? If you aren't well known, you won't make a lot of money. Not only because of the downloads, but because you are not well known. I am not saying that those bands were not good, or they lacked something. But it has always been the case that some bands that make some of the best music do not get well known, and some that are pure shit get well known, that's not something that has come along with the illegal downloading of music.
If you look at the "grind" bands, with which I mean goregrind, porngrind, etc. The really extreme forms of music, I can't imagine that they make a lot of money, even if all of their albums are being sold. Yet they keep making music. If you look at some black metal bands, who have a thing for limiting their albums, I can't imagine them making a lot of money as well, yet they keep making music...